The Australian Steel Storage Manufacturers Group (the Group) has issued a warning to the Australian industry that they could face legal action or exposure to health and safety risks by purchasing imported steel storage products that fail to observe Australia’s established design and manufacturing standards.
An initiative of the Australian Steel Institute (ASI), the Group was formed in 2010 by Dexion, Dematic, Macrack, Commando and APC through concern that Australia’s move towards a global market in steel supply was leading to an unacceptable degree of non- compliant, uncertified and untested steel storage products.
The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS) places significant shared responsibility on all stakeholders in operating in construction steelwork, specifically naming managers, designers, manufacturers, importers, suppliers and installers.
Dexion’s CEO and chairman of the Group, Peter Farmakis believes that an inherent difficulty arises when trying to trace the material used and the manufacturing methods adopted by internationally procured steel products, which are beyond the reach of Australia’s legal and regulatory framework.
“The Australian manufacturing market is mature. It’s one that has established a high-level of quality over many years, so that customers are insured against unsafe, non-compliant products by the very fact that they are purchasing locally manufactured products from within a strict WHS compliance regime,” said Farmakis.
The Group warns that accountability is lost when steel manufacturing is taken offshore and it’s both the procurer and the supplier who bear the repercussions of non-compliance in Australia.
According to the ASI, a number of major Australian steel projects have recently reported quality concerns and even fraudulent importer behaviour such as falsified test certificates.
“Over the past five years, the ASI has seen an increase in the number of complaints in relation to non-compliant imported steel products. This spike is caused by the lack of accountability when it comes to imported products, many of which have been found to be non-compliant in accordance with Australia’s strict standards,” said the ASI’s national manager and manager of the Group, Ian Cairns.
“In particular, we are seeing a trend towards businesses procuring material such as steel plates, structural sections and metal castings from outside of Australia that are often found to have some issues in meeting local specifications,” said Cairns.
Collaborating closely with key industry stakeholders, the Group assists businesses meet the requirements of Australian laws and regulations.
However, they state it is incumbent on the procuring business to inform itself of the laws and regulations, and to understand their implications.
